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News Release from: Financial Services Forum | Subject: Practitioner Group
Edited by the Marketingservicestalk Editorial
Team on 19 October 2007
Financial Services Forum starts
Practitioner Group
The leading financial services membership organisation has launched a new group for directors and partners of agencies across all disciplines who operate within the financial services sector.
In its most significant development to date, The Financial Services Forum (The FS Forum) is launching the Practitioner Group This group is aimed at directors and partners of companies within the advertising, direct marketing, digital, media planning and buying, design, branding, sales promotion, PR, sponsorship, research and evaluation fields
Membership of this new and influential group will initially be limited to 100 - and will be strictly by invitation only.
The Advisory Board of the group will approve all members and ensure the membership comprises a good balance of the marketing disciplines within the financial services sector.
Members of the new Practitioner's Group can expect to: learn more about financial services marketing effectiveness and how to reach the client's target audience more creatively and productively; liaise with marketing industry peers to learn and exchange new communication techniques and ideas; understand the issues and challenges facing financial services marketers; interact with financial services marketers to advise and inform them of the role and challenges of marketing practitioners; and be better placed to win and retain more financial services business.
The Financial Services Forum Practitioner Group is not a thinly disguised new business or prospecting opportunity.
Whilst Practitioner Group Members will get the opportunity to interact with full members of the FS Forum, it will always be as equals and with a view to learning and sharing experiences and expertise - not selling services.
Annual Practitioner Group Membership fee is GBP1,500 + VAT.
The new Practitioner Group will be launched formally at The Financial Services Forum's Annual Members' Conference on 22 November at BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9LN.
Anthony Thomson, Chief Executive of The Financial Services Forum, commented: "The Financial Services Forum was established by a number of like-minded individuals back in 2000 - with the view that improving marketing effectiveness within financial services is good for the industry, but also the consumer.
"We have never been an apologist for poor practice within the industry and we anticipate that, by drawing on the experience and expertise of the Practitioner Group - and sharing best practice with them - The Forum will continue to influence the standards of financial services marketing for the better.
"Our new Practitioner Group represents excellent value for money - delivering six half-day conferences every year, access to Argent and the Forum Database, together with access to The Forum's full membership at events such as its annual conference, all for the cost of one normal conference".
The FS Forum is run strictly by and for the benefit of the members and it is led by the Advisory Board, which is made up of respected senior industry executives and academics.
The board approves all applications for membership and recommends the topics and issues that create the agenda for events, research and publishing.
This agenda is based on the strategic marketing issues that board members see themselves facing.
The FS Forum is now in its seventh year and has two other levels of membership.
Full membership is reserved for senior industry executives who are either responsible for, or directly influence, their organisation's marketing strategy; typically, they will be at director level or equivalent.
Associate Membership, introduced in November 2006, aimed at those marketers who typically report directly into a marketing director and are responsible for delivering their organisation's marketing strategy on a day-to-day basis.
From 2005 to date, the membership of The Financial Services Forum has grown from just over 250 to over 400.
Much of the growth came from the launch of a number of Special Interest Groups which cater for the needs of marketers within specific areas of the industry.
The Financial Services Forum applies rigorous membership qualification criteria to ensure that all members are responsible for, or contribute to, their company's marketing strategy.
The Full and Associate Membership tiers exclude agencies, consultants and other vendors.
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